12.5 Commercial Auto Endorsements
Key Takeaways
- Every commercial auto endorsement either adds an insured, adds coverage, restricts coverage, or satisfies a filing — classify it to answer the question.
- Drive Other Car (CA 99 10) protects named individuals driving non-owned autos personally, filling the gap for executives with only a company car.
- Symbol 8 covers liability for hired autos but NOT physical damage — Hired Auto Physical Damage closes that gap.
- A loss payee receives physical-damage payments (lienholder), while an additional insured receives liability protection (e.g., a lessor under CA 20 01).
- Filing endorsements like the MCS-90 and Form F certify the policy meets federal or state financial-responsibility requirements.
Why Endorsements Matter
The Business Auto Coverage Form is intentionally broad but generic; endorsements tailor it to a specific risk, fill symbol gaps, or satisfy a regulator or lienholder. On the exam, endorsement questions reward candidates who know what gap each endorsement closes rather than memorizing form numbers alone.
Endorsements either add insureds, add coverage, restrict coverage, or satisfy a filing. They attach to the policy and override the base form to the extent of any conflict. The most frequently tested ones address employee-driven autos, rented vehicles, lienholders, and broadened named-insured definitions.
The Most-Tested Commercial Auto Endorsements
| Endorsement | Function |
|---|---|
| Drive Other Car (DOC) – CA 99 10 | Gives liability, med-pay, UM, and physical damage to named individuals (and family) driving non-owned autos — vital for an executive who has only a company car and no personal auto policy |
| Hired Auto Physical Damage | Adds comprehensive/collision for rented or borrowed autos (Symbol 8 covers liability but not physical damage) |
| Employees as Insureds – CA 99 33 | Makes employees insureds for liability while using their own autos on company business (broadens Symbol 9) |
| Individual Named Insured – CA 99 17 | Extends personal-auto-style coverage to an individual named insured and spouse, since a BAP otherwise lacks personal coverages |
| Lessor – Additional Insured and Loss Payee – CA 20 01 | Adds the lessor of a leased auto as an insured/loss payee |
| Mobile Equipment | Schedules mobile equipment that travels public roads, bridging the CGL/auto gap |
Drive Other Car — Closing the Executive Gap
A company president drives only a corporate car (Symbol 7) and has no personal auto policy. If she rents a car on vacation, the BAP covers her only for business use of a covered auto, leaving a personal gap. The Drive Other Car (CA 99 10) endorsement schedules her (and resident family) by name and grants liability, medical payments, UM/UIM, and physical damage for non-owned autos she drives personally — effectively replacing the personal auto policy she lacks.
Trap: DOC applies to the named individuals listed, not to all employees, and only to autos the company does not own. It does not cover the company's owned fleet — those are already covered by the policy's symbols.
Loss Payees, Additional Insureds, and Filings
Loss payee vs. additional insured: a loss payee receives physical-damage loss payments (protecting a lienholder's financial interest in a financed auto); an additional insured receives liability protection. A financed truck typically shows the lender as a loss payee; a lease often requires the lessor as an additional insured AND loss payee (CA 20 01).
Filing endorsements satisfy regulators:
| Filing | Purpose |
|---|---|
| MCS-90 | FMCSA public-liability guarantee for interstate motor carriers |
| Form F / state financial-responsibility filing | Certifies the policy meets state FR limits for an individual or business |
| Uniform Motor Carrier Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability | State intrastate carrier filing |
Audit reminder: because vehicles are added and deleted mid-term, many BAPs are auditable — the inception premium is a deposit premium, adjusted at expiration based on actual exposure.
Coverage-Restricting and Specialty Endorsements
Not every endorsement adds coverage — some restrict it to control price or hazard:
- Fellow Employee Exclusion — bars an injured employee from suing a co-employee covered by the policy (the WC system handles employee injuries).
- Driver exclusion endorsements — name specific high-risk drivers who are not insured while operating covered autos.
- Pollution Liability – Broadened Coverage for Covered Autos (CA 99 48) — broadens the limited pollution coverage for upset/overturn of a covered auto and the fuel/lubricants it carries.
- Expanded Transportation Expense / Rental Reimbursement — raises the modest base transportation-expense limit after a covered physical-damage loss.
Exam habit: when a question pairs a fact pattern with several endorsements, ask whether the endorsement adds an insured, adds a coverage, restricts a coverage, or satisfies a filing — that classification almost always points to the correct answer.
A corporation's CEO drives only a company-owned car insured under the BAP and carries no personal auto policy. On a personal vacation she rents a car. Which endorsement should be added to protect her for the rental?
A business finances a new delivery truck. The bank wants assurance that it will be paid for physical damage to the truck up to its lien interest. Which status should the bank be given on the BAP?
The Endorsements That Plug Commercial Auto Gaps
Commercial auto endorsements tailor the BAP to real operations, and the exam tests which one solves a stated problem:
| Endorsement | Problem it solves |
|---|---|
| Drive Other Car (DOC) | An executive with no personally owned auto has no PAP; DOC extends liability/med-pay/UM/physical-damage to autos they borrow |
| Hired Auto / Non-Owned (CA 99 16, etc.) | Liability and (by endorsement) physical damage for rented or employee-owned autos used in the business |
| Mobile Equipment | Clarifies coverage where equipment crosses the auto/CGL boundary |
| Lessor – Additional Insured & Loss Payee (CA 20 01) | Protects the lessor of a leased vehicle |
| Pollution Liability – Broadened (CA 99 48) | Limited pollution coverage from covered-auto upset/overturn |
Why Drive Other Car matters: the personal auto policy follows the car, and a company car is the corporation's, not the executive's, so a manager who drives only the company vehicle and borrows a friend's car on vacation could be uninsured for that trip. DOC fills this "executive gap" by giving the named individual broad coverage on non-owned autos. Loss payee and additional insured filings (and any required financial-responsibility filing such as an SR-22 or the MCS-90 for truckers) are the administrative endorsements that satisfy lenders, lessors, and regulators.